OTC dental students and faculty providing care in Nicaragua

Dental students Tiffany Smith, left, and Emily Swyder

Ozarks Technical Community College dental students are getting an intense lesson in providing patient care this week as they treat hundreds of poor villagers in a small Nicaraguan village.

Six dental students and four dental program alumni, along with several faculty members and other supporters, are in Nicaragua this week as part of mission trip organized by Rebecca Caceras, OTC's dental hygiene program director.

The students and support staff are expected to treat 500 residents who live in a rural area of the country and either don't have access to dental treatment or can't afford it. The residents will not be charged.

"Dental care is not a high priority for those living there. They don't have the money. It's more about buying beans and rice to eat. Health care is a low priority," Caceras said.

The group will bring two Nicaraguan dentists and one physician on the trip to assist with some of the care. The group expects to treat about 100 people a day for five days before returning home this weekend.

Caceras is familiar with the plight of the people in the area. She did missionary work there for four years before joining the OTC staff and met her husband, Jose, there. He worked as a dentist.

All of those going are paying their own way with money raised through donations and fundraisers.

"The students will receive some cultural awareness and a better understanding of providing dental care and health care in a new environment," she said. "It will be triage dentistry in someone's home. We will also work in churches and community buildings."

Two dental hygiene students who are going on the trip said they were leaving the country for the first time.

"I think it will be a great learning experience," said Emily Swyder, a first-year student.

Tiffany Smith said she's always wanted to take a mission trip.

"I know I will learn a lot in addition to providing dental help to a lot of people who don't have an opportunity to get it on a regular basis," she said.